Breakfast Bagel – Kickstarting Your Day

Is breakfast the most important meal of your day? It should be! How your body feels and how it manages food during the day all hinges on what kind of start you give it. Getting proper nutrition upon rising means you are energized until lunch, instead of dragging around unsatisfied and crashing before noon.

Breakfast foods that are high in sugar and simple starches can give you an instant boost of energy, but you pay for it an hour later when the buzz wears off and you drop like a rock. Doughnuts, sugary cereal and so on are the absolute worst thing you can feed yourself – even fruit won’t last long enough for you to make it much past the mid-morning briefing!

Complex carbohydrates are the answer for a fast acting boost, and protein helps stretch the high until lunchtime as the body breaks down protein more slowly. Try some whole grain options – like a whole wheat or multi-grain New Yorker bagel. Whole grains are complex carbs, meaning they break down more slowly than simple starches and the energy buzz lasts longer.

Top your bagel with some extra protein, such as a schmear of cream cheese and some lox, a dollop of peanut butter, a fried or scrambled egg, some ham and melted cheese – the possibilities are endless. You can eat the bagel fresh off the cart with some butter, take it home to split and toast it as part of a full English breakfast, or carry it to work to split and spread with hummus or another healthy topping.

Trying to stay below a 500 breakfast calorie count? No worries – the average whole grain New Yorker bagel is under 300 calories, and you can add a schmear of cream cheese and a small glass of orange juice and stay under your maximum with ease! Or, fry a slice of bacon, poach and egg and create your own – much better tasting – version of the McMuffin!

Finally, if you need another reason to choose whole grain bagels as a breakfast of champions, remember that you are also getting important supplements like iron, calcium, Vitamin B and fiber – all great for your health and digestion!

The next time you are torn over what to eat for breakfast, consider having a bagel instead of a Danish or other sweet, processed food. It’s the way to start every day off right!